Mailbag
July 14th, 2013 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Much of my illustration commissions remain of the personal gift variety, and therein lies the problem. I’ve always tended to charge ‘per person’, with an hourly studio rate added based on detail. This is no problem with two or even three people in one illustration, but as you can imagine the price very quickly jumps up when it’s several folk, or perhaps even a group. I subsequently find myself A) feeling bad for quoting private individuals such a high price, even though it’s indicative of the extensive work involved, and/or B) not hearing back from clients who, not unreasonably, balk at paying so much… READ MORE
July 7th, 2013 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: When you draw, do you use pencils with different values? I mean like hb, 2b, etc? A: Sounds like it might be time for my sort-of-once-a-year answer to that most incessant of all questions: “What materials do you use?”. I do update this each time I do it with whatever I am using these days, if it is different. But first, your specific question: Pencils– Honestly I usually use whatever I end up grabbing from my eight or so coffee cup/jars full of drawing utensils near my board. For years I used a clutch-type leadholder like the¬¨‚ĆStaedtler Mars Technico Lead Holder and would fluctuate… READ MORE
June 30th, 2013 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: What the hell is Max Korn? Even if you don’t wanna tell do you actually know, or do any of the old timers at MAD actually know.. or do they pretend to? A: Ah… the mystery of “Max Korn”. For those who are not MAD aficionados, the name “Max Korn” began to show up as a sort of “Easter egg” drawn or written into the pages of MAD here and there… I am not sure exactly when it started, but I think sometime in the mid to late 80’s. “Max Korn” is even listed in Urban Dictionary, where the definition says: Max Korn a… READ MORE
June 23rd, 2013 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Do you ever get tired of drawing smiles? You know when you have a lousy day and all there are all big toothy smiles… has there been a day where you were just sick of it? Also, what’s your favourite expression to draw? A: You are obviously referring to drawing live caricatures with this question, so I will answer from that perspective. First, the short answer: no, I don’t get sick of drawing everyone with big, toothy smiles because I don’t draw everyone that way. I draw a caricature of THEM, and the specific smile they give me/have. In some cases I don’t draw… READ MORE
June 16th, 2013 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I just recently downloaded a drawing app for my iPad (Sketch Club) and picked up a fairly cheap stylus from Amazon. It’s my first experience doing any kind of digital doodling but it’s proven to be a fun place to start. Because of the whole touch pad scenario, I’ve found on more than one occasion that my hand would rest on the screen and inadvertently draw strokes I didn’t intend. As a result, I hold the stylus much differently than I would a regular pen and it’s slightly altered the style of my drawings (for the better. I think). Is this something you also… READ MORE
June 9th, 2013 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Hi Tom, big fan of your drawings. Your book has had a huge effect on my art and is really helping me progress. However, I (as I’m sure many people do) hate my own artwork. I’m hugely over-critical and feel like people are being nice when the compliment it. Anyway, my question is, do you ever look back on your YouTube videos of caricatures you drew back then (1993) and think,”Oh dear God,why did I do ‘X’ that way” or “if I drew that now I’d do ‘Y’ like this instead”? A: The balance between self-confidence and self-doubt if a tricky one for any… READ MORE
June 2nd, 2013 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: Please tell us about a topic that’s intrigued me for long time…the SIGNATURE OF THE ARTIST, like your aesthetically pleasing signature. And why CAPITAL LETTERS. Like Mort Drucker also signed in Capital Letters. Please share any tips on how and what type of signature should an artist sign with. Also the placement of signatures. Do you sign your cheques/ bills etc with similar sign , or there’s a separate and exclusive “Signature Style” meant only for Artwork? A: Artist’s signatures are a sort of fascinating thing, because most are very deliberately designed. I only know of a very few artists that simply write their… READ MORE
May 5th, 2013 | Posted in Mailbag
Q: I’ve seen your work used on websites without any credit to you and figure it is probably without your permission. Isn’t that copyright infringement? How do you handle that sort of thing? A: The Interwebs are a both a boon and a bane to visual artists when it comes to people stealing your artwork and using it without your permission. It’s a bane because if you put your artwork on the internet, it will get stolen… I guarantee it. It’s a boon because there are billions of people on it and some of them will be your eyes and ears (well, eyes anyway) and… READ MORE
